Quaderni IRCrES-CNR, (2019) vol. 4, n. 2 cap. 5

Alle origini dell’emigrazione africana:  la letteratura francofona racconta  il mancato superamento del colonialismo

The Origins of the African Emigration: the Francophone Literature Depicts Africa’s Unresolved Process of Decolonization

Antonella Emina

CNR-IRCRES, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Ricerca sulla Crescita Economica Sostenibile, Moncalieri (TO) – Italia

corresponding author: antonella.emina@ircres.cnr.it

Abstract 

In Italy, the political and cultural debate seems to be characterised by binary oppositions – open/closed, global/territorial, legal/illegal immigrant, foreigner/native, North/ South. In our country, the issues of migration and the relationship with foreigners are greatly discussed. Naturally, Africa is such an important part of this discourse. The African continent is currently facing a variety of challenges, but the public debate focuses mainly on its migration fluxes to the North of the World. However, sixty years ago, some Italian politicians and intellectuals, such as Giorgio La Pira and the writer Ignazio Silone, contributed to build a brighter future for Africa. In the spring of 1959, our country hosted in Rome the 2nd Congress of Black Writers and Artists. Rome temporarily became an important centre for the process of decolonisation. During the meeting, they discussed the difficult process of decolonisation and future guidelines for the African continent.

Sixty years later, this article analyses these demands and how they are depicted in three key novels in contemporary African literature. In 1968, the Montreal University Press printed The sun of independence by the Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma; in 1979, the French Seuil published Life and a Half by the Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi; and in 2001, le Serpent à plumes, an innovative French publishing house, printed Dog Days: An Animal Chronicle by the Cameroonian Patrice Nganang. Their very different voices and their international circulation represent a paradigmatic emblem of postcolonial African cultures.

Keywords: African novels, Ahmadou Kourouma, Sony Labou Tansi, Patrick Nganang, Second Congress of Negro Writers and Artists (Rome 1959).

How to cite this article

Emina, A. (2019). Alle origini dell’emigrazione africana: la letteratura francofona racconta il mancato superamento del colonialismo. Quaderni IRCrES, 4(2), 83-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.23760/2499-6661.2019.011